Soul Society Saga a Bit Different
by SonnyStrait
Summary: An alternate reality, also known as alternate universe au fic; it retells the Soul Society Saga. New characters are also introduced.
1. Chapter 1

Chapter One: Bazaar Time

**Chapter One: Bazaar Time!**

After crashing into a hut roughly as they escaped from the cleaner which was chasing them through the gate, Ichigo was the first one to get to his feet. He dusted his black kimono, his soul reaper "uniform," if we may call it so.

"So, where are we, Yuroichi?" Ichigo asked from the humanly black cat by his feet, which was browsing around attentively.

Yuroichi replied, "Well, we have finally arrived at the Soul Society. The place we are at now is a village called Rukongai. It's been a long time since I've been here… but, Ichigo,"

"Yes?"

"Perhaps watch out a little. People here don't like soul reapers much, or so I have heard. Again, I have not visited this place since a time that feels like eternity, I can't take rumors for certain." Yuroichi explained.

Ichigo nodded understandingly.

"I don't see anybody here," Orihime objected, standing up herself with a little struggle. "But where's all this noise coming from?"

There was a loud cacophony, a mixture of cheerful yells, angry shouts, and other sounds one regularly hear at a bazaar.

"I presume they are hosting the annual bazaar now. Unfortunate. We will have to march through the soul-reaper-haters before we could arrive at the gate." Yuroichi noted glumly.

"Oh, they can't be that bad, can they be?" Orihime inquired.

"Well, if we take Ishida as the average soul-reaper hater, then, yes, we do have something to worry about," Ichigo said.

Ishida grunted, visibly displeased with the remark.

"They are surely not going to shoot any of us down if we just mix with the crowd, which I assume will be easy as at a bazaar where all sorts of people show up…" Ishida said.

"You have got a point there, but again, these are souls and they will probably recognize strangers," Yuroichi said.

"Well, we haven't got much of a choice, do we? Let's go," Ichigo said and the others followed suit. Yuroichi guided the group from on top of Ichigo's shoulder, to avoid being trampled on by the crowd and to cut through it quicker.

"I am really tempted to buy something," Orihime conceded. "I wish we could just stop so I could by that – oh my God, how beautiful!"

Orihime stopped for a second – big mistake. The forceful crowd drove Orihime off her legs and she couldn't do anything else but go with the flow.

For a while, no one noticed Orihime's missing; they were all too busy fighting their way through the bazaar. Then, suddenly, when a question was asked of her in an attempt to begin a conversation, finally, her loss was realized.

"Umm – Orihime?" Ichigo repeated expectantly. As he turned back, his face fell and his eyes narrowed as if squinting. "Er – guys – were did Orihime disappear to?"

The others, including Yuroichi, turned back to see the place where Orihime was supposed to follow them.

The others muttered nervously.

"We have got to search for her," Ichigo decided, and, before anyone could prevent it, he started off the opposite direction and spied with his eyes for Orihime. He was yelling her name, too.

"What are you doing?" Yuroichi hissed angrily in his ears, injecting his claws into Ichigo's skin, who whimpered in pain.

"I need to quicken the search somehow, obviously," Ichigo explained. "Orihime! Orihime, where are you?!"

Ignoring the crowds' murmurs and glares, he ambled in the direction where they came from, in the space between the bisected crowds.

"You fool! This way, people will realize you are a soul reaper!" Yuroichi hissed in his ear and pressed his claws more in into Ichigo's skin.

"Nothing to worry about, they'll just murmur and whisper and that's it," Ichigo stated conceitedly.

As Chad and Ishida caught up with him, they repeated the same thing Yuroichi stated before. Ichigo shrugged the matter off, not able to correct his mistake now. Finally, they found Orihime, arguing with a shopkeeper about the seller's merchandise, apparently.

"You are certain this isn't a bijou? Because I am planning to buy this for my mother, and she likes original jewels only…"

The young, female shopkeeper with dark complexion was visibly growing irritated. Behind her sat a boy appearing on the verge of manhood strikingly similar to him. Evidently the two were siblings. The boy, though seemingly much more mature, simply sat there and watched his sister's quarrel with a customer. He too had a black hair and wore a black kimono.

"Trust me, this is not a bijou, for the thousandths time! How about buying it already?" she hissed through gritted teeth. A vein was pulsing in her forehead and even her fists were clenched on the table her merchandise was scattered on.

"Oh, all right! Even if it _is _a bijou, my mom will still like it! It looks really real…"

"Because it _is _real…" The girl said in a voice that trembled from rising temper. As Orihime looked away, the girl raised her hand to strangle her, but before she could do so, Orihime looked back and put the marvelous necklace back on the table.

"I didn't bring money with myself, I forgot. So I won't buy it, so sorry. Perhaps next year -" Orihime apologized cheerily.

If something, then it even worsened the young shopkeeper's mood. Orihime gave her a bright smile, and, since her eyes were closed, the girl attempted again to choke her.

"Hey, Orihime, I think we had better go…" Ichigo and Ishida said together and hooked on her.

"Why, guys? I was really enjoying the conversation with this sweet shopkeeper…"

"The feeling's not mutual," the girl said with open displeasure. "Wait!" she said, examining Ichigo's clothing. "You are a _soul reaper_!"

Ichigo swallowed hard, and everybody else, who have already realized the fact, looked at him disapprovingly, eyes sparkling with pure loathing.

"Er – yes – no – maybe…" Ichigo stammered nervously. "Why? Would that be bad if I was a soul reaper?"

"I have to challenge you to a duel then," the boy sitting on a chair casually spoke up.

"Do not accept it," Yuroichi hissed.

"Oh, gosh! You've got a talking cat with you, don't you? And it's black! My favorite type!" the girl said and made a move to grab Yuroichi. Yuroichi slipped to the back of Ichigo so the girl couldn't possibly reach her. The girl reached for it but the cat ducked. Her face contorted into a frown.

"Fine," she said menacingly. "I wouldn't want to touch it anyway. Probably it carries disease or it'll try to murder me, after all, it is a soul reaper's pet, isn't it?"

Ichigo's eyes narrowed. What was she aiming at? Yes, of course, the let's-insult-the-basically-innocent-soul-reapers-for-no-reason but the girl seemed like going somewhere with it.

In a foreign language that caused an upsurge of irritated whispers in the crowd. Undisturbed, the two proceeded their conversation in the strange-sounding language. They appeared to be discussing very serious matters.

"They are taking in the old soul language," Ishida explained, fixing his glasses on his nose as the sun shone on the lenses, making him appear mysterious.

Yuroichi and Ichigo both looked at him in surprise.

"Oh, I thought it was like Chinese or something! You know, there is very little difference between Asian eyes if we discount the Afros…" Orihime elaborated as if she were cheerleading on a final rugby match. She even did some waving with her arms that resembled a duck attempting to fly.

A sweat drop appeared on her friends' heads; Chad merely grunted, however, cautious not to insult her the littlest.

"I am Japanese-American, you dumb-" the female shopkeeper yelled furiously. "However…"

The boy said something to her, again in that unfamiliar, awkward language.

"Let's go, quick, before they pay attention to us again…" Yuroichi whispered into Ichigo's ear, who beckoned the rest of the group to follow in a way only they had seen. The others obeyed, but Ichigo picked the wrong person to try to hustle his way by.

The girl pushed him back.

"What are you trying to do? Escape the fight?" she demanded loudly.

_Oh no, oh no_, Yuroichi yowled.

Chad stepped forward. "Let us pass by," he requested, sounding polite.

The girl glared at him with electricity sparkling in her eyes.

"Fight!" she decided to bark at last. Slowly, the entire crowded begun chanting 'Fight' as if they had every right to see a fight play down in the busy streets of Rukongai.

"Uh-oh," Ishida commented.

"Leave it, guys!" the boy yelled, louder then the entire crowd. He probably used some sort of technique to raise the volume of his voice so everyone could hear and listen to what he was saying. "He's probably afraid to fight me one-on-one, I mean, c'mon, he's just a little, useless soul reaper!"

The crowd stopped chanting for the time they laughed appreciatively at the insult.

Yuroichi quickly whispered, "Don't pay attention to them, Ichi-"

But it was too late to try and talk some sense into the orange-haired boy. He roughly pushed the innocent cat down of his shoulder so it fell down into the dust.

"Hey, Ichigo!" Ishida said pejoratively as he and Orihime ran to grab Yuroichi.

"What do you mean by 'useless little soul reaper'?" Ichigo demanded haughtily, drawing his dangerously large weapon from its case. "I can defeat you anytime you wish! How about now?"

The shopkeeper girl's lips edged upwards and the boy grinned openly with visible malevolence.

"Well, then that is it," he said.

"OK, fight begin!" the shopkeeper yelled and her brother immediately jumped in front of Ichigo. Ichigo fell back in surprise.

"Whoa! Didn't expect that from a big-mouth like you," he commented, returning the insult.

"I don't care about your expectations. Could we just start the fight already?" he said curtly, towering above him.

"OK," Ichigo said, sounding nonchalant, as he attempted to stand up. The boy pushed him back.

"Introduction," he muttered through clenched jaws so only Ichigo could hear.

"Er – what?"

"OK, so!" the girl yelled as she herself jumped and separated them. Basically, she pushed her sibling gently aside and kicked Ichigo meters away from the boy.

"Hey, call that impartial!" Ichigo commented, concealing successfully his surprise of the girl's fighting abilities.

"Here we don't just murder the one challenging us, you know. This is Rukongai. Peaceful souls live here. We shall introduce the rules of a fight to you, shan't we? Well…" the girl rolled her eyes in annoyance.

"Fine," Ichigo mumbled meekly, feeling like a piece of scum as he got to his feet. The scene was much too intriguing by now for anyone to intervene. Orihime, true to her anxious nature, however, managed to squirm out a squeeze despite her great excitement, "Ichigo, quit it when you still can!"

"Listen to Orihime, you fool!" Ishida added, sounding passionate about stopping someone to fight.

Chad merely grunted in agreement. Yuroichi squealed and pinned his claws deeper into Chad's skin who felt nothing due to his immense muscles.

Ichigo ignored his friends' desperate attempts to prevent him from battling as the girl explained the rules, forcing herself to remain calm.

"We first introduce ourselves to one another and tell each other why we are fighting. We guarantee we will not kill each other no matter what. If anyone inflicts more then a deadly injury deliberately that one will be eliminated from the battle and thus will lose it -"

"If that's how a single fight is played down how do you war with each other?" Ichigo blurted out.

"We don't war around here you idiot! We're not like soul reapers, how long will it take you to comprehend? Seriously, you are one piece of shit!" the girl clasped her mouth as the swear word left her mouth. She blushed with embarrassment and made weird movements with her hand in an attempt to lessen the upsurge of whispers that arose again. "Ugh – never mind! So my point is. I am going to be the judge – no, your friends will be simply spectators."

"But then you'll let 'im cheat!" Ishida protested.

"Ah, are you a Quincy?" the boy inquired suddenly.

"Umm – yes,"

"Then why are you siding with him? You should, most of all, as a Quincy, understand how souls are much more decent then those filthy little soul reapers…"

Ishida seemed to taken aback to speak.

"Would you quit insulting us? You've got the totally wrong idea of soul reapers! I don't know where you get all that stuff about them being evil and filthy and useless and scum and- "

"Can we just start the battle already? You are boring me with your well-rehearsed protesting." The girl said. "My name is Saionji Barokku, very displeased to meet a soul reaper,"

Ichigo's head was boiling and his face was red from furiousness.

"Meet my brother, Arekanderu Barokku," the boy introduced grinned smugly. Ichigo returned the gesture with a furious glare. The boy shrugged and looked away.

"I don't know who you are," the girl said at last. "Orangu Idiotu?"

Ichigo pulled a face. "I am Ichigo Kurosaki, substitute-soul reaper,"

Everybody else seemed to only have heard the soul-reaper part.

"So, soul reaper, Arekanderu, let the battle begin!" Saionji jumped back and let the big boys fight. The crowd, with the exception of Ichigo's friends, cheered, clapped, howled, catcalled and, wholf-whistled.

"All right," Arekanderu said. "Let's start with something smooth – you can still give up after my first attack, after that, you're all mine,"

"Er, perverted…" Saionji whispered to one of her friends from the crowd. Everyone laughed appreciatively.

The fact that everybody was against him kind of dampened his fighting spirits.

"Relax, I'm never gonna give up against someone like you," Ichigo assured him frigidly without a facial expression.

"Really? Well, let's see about that," Arekanderu replied nonchalantly. He raised his hands in front of himself and when Ichigo was least expecting two black balls of fire shot out from the center of his palms and shot straight at him. Ichigo jumped but the attack still hit his leg.

"Ugh," he said. He returned to the ground but standing was much harder because of the wound on his legs.

Arekanderu said nothing just grinned smugly. It infuriated Ichigo furthermore.

"What's the grin for? You hadn't done nothing and you're acting like you're royalty!"

"Ichigo, calm down!" Yuroichi said, jumping out of Chad's lap and nearing towards him. "If you won't quit the fight, at least keep your anger, so you wouldn't be blinded by anger!"

Ichigo was utterly tempted to give Yuroichi a good kick in his cat-ribs but Arekanderu's next attack came. Another pair of those horrible black-fire-bombs!

"Geez, man, have you got anything else? 'Cause these bombs are getting quiet boring after a time!"

"Is that so? Then how is it that you still can't block them, soul reaper?"

"Quit calling me soul reaper! I dodged them, anyway!" Ichigo said on his own defense.

"I'll quit calling you a soul reaper if you quit being one!" Arekanderu said wittily.

"OK, enough talk, can you make this fight a little more interesting? If you left out discussing you're fighting for, anyway!" Saionji ordered.

"All right, if that's what the people want!" Arekanderu consented.

The crowds cheered and howled and screamed 'yes!' on the top of their voices. Arekanderu grinned, and Ichigo sensed something bad coming. He looked around attentively for any source of danger, but only found his opponent himself with potential danger.

From under his kimono, Arekanderu took out a rope dart and a dagger. He threw the dagger at Ichigo and it got him right in the heart.

"Ichigo!" Orihime cried in desperation and ran to heal him. Water splurged out from Saionji's palm and pushed Orihime right back to position.

"And you stay there until the entire battle is over." She said warningly.

In the mean time, Arekanderu took out another dagger and tied it to the end of his rope dart. He lazily spun it around with one hand and with the other he continuously fired those black balls of fire at his adversary.

Ichigo jumped away from the attacks and watched attentively what his opponent was doing, and was brainstorming about a possible way to dodge it. He noticed that the longer he spun it around the more visible a dark cupola-shaped formation was being created. Ichigo didn't understand.

When the process was complete, that was when it dawned on him.

"A barrier!" he thought out loud in a yell as he jumped away from another fire ball.

"Yes, that's exactly what it is," Arekanderu assured him. "And it's to keep your little friends from interfering for one, and the other reason is that you couldn't run away and the spectators won't get hurt…"

Someone interrupted his monologue.

"You hadn't done a very decent job, you see! I'm trapped in here too!" Saionji yelled furiously.

Ichigo ignored it, and as Arekanderu was lazily giving excuses to his smaller sibling, he used his chance and attacked him with his sword. Arekanderu noticed in the mean time and attempted to dodge but the result was a deep and bleeding cut in his shoulder.

"Go Ichigo!" Orihime yelled encouragingly.

Ichigo grinned at her.

This time Arekanderu didn't miss the opportunity. He spun the rope dart again and captured Ichigo by spinning the rope around his body then tying a knot as Ichigo was body-binded, practically.

He threw all the daggers he had with him at Ichigo. Some of it the opponent dodged, some of it he did not. He was bleeding as daggers of all shapes and sizes prickled his insides.

Ichigo gathered all his strength and broke free.

Saionji and many others in the crowd gasped. Ichigo took it as a good sign.

However bleeding, he managed to pull out some of the prickling daggers from his skin as Arekanderu was basically too astounded to make a move. He threw them back at him; Arekanderu simply caught them and threw them back.

Ichigo dodged as many as he could, and, realizing how useless this oscillating game was, he left them on the ground. Ichigo and Arekanderu changed sides, which meant Arekanderu fought from the side where his daggers were pinned to the ground and Ichigo from where very little blood has been spilt so far.

"And what businesses have you here?" Arekanderu inquired.

"As if it were any of your concern!"

"So no business, am I right?"

"No way! I am here to rescue Rukia Kuchki!"

Arekanderu stopped dead at the answer.

"What?" his eyes bulged out and seemingly it took great effort for him to keep his jaws from dropping. "Repeat the name!"

"Rukia Kuchki…" Ichigo said with arched eyebrows. "Ru-ki-a Kuch-ki!"

Ichigo glanced over to Saionji and she was just as stunned as her brother. Ichigo glanced at his friends, wistful for some kind of explanation. Chad merely shrugged and so did Yuroichi.

"What is it?" Ichigo demanded.

"Don't you know?!" Saionji yelled back. "Rukia has been our dearest friend after she became a soul reaper and killed us some years later … er, she tried to kill me, but in the process she killed Arekanderu too… so if she's captured, we have got to see that for ours…"

"Talk in your name only! I am not interested in this whole Rukia thing. I just want to take out the soul reapers, who gave us an early death sentence and nothing more. Oh yeah and one more thing. We have a history with soul reaper because our father and grandfathers had some unknown business with them which probably led to the massacre of our family, but this connection led to our introduction to the Kuchiki family."

"Do you mean you want to come with us?" Ichigo asked, his eyes bulging out in disbelieving. So were his friends' eyes.

"No way!" he said, shaking his head, his eyes still nearly falling out of their places.

"Not like I would tangle alongside a soul reaper wannabe either."-said Arekanderu

"Yes! We accept the offer." Yuroichi said, stepping forward. He was pushed back by the barrier. Orihime ran to heal him if he needed, but in a nonce he was back on his feet as good as ever.

"Ichigo, these are fierce fighters, and going only six of us is like a suicide attempt! Ichigo, since I am the leader of this group, I accept them to the group!"

"What? NO WAY! You can't do that!"

Ichigo protested alongside Arekanderu for a while, but when Ishida, Saionji and Orihime sided with Yuroichi they finally gave in. Partially.

"Fine, then! OK about the boy, but how about the girl? There must have been a reason Rukia wanted to kill her!"

He was banged against the wall of the barrier by a thick wave of water coming out of the center of Saionji's palms. "The only reason she tried to kill is because of what my brother explained earlier and nothing more!"

It took a time for Ichigo to swallow all this.

"Why did she kill your brother?" he swallowed, sounding skeptic of Saionji's story.

"Because he tried to protect me, you tactless moron!" Saionji yelled. Seemingly she was really pissed of about Ichigo's tactless inquiry. Another surge of water landed in Ichigo's face.

"And have some more tact when questioning people about old memories," Saionji ended the quarrel.

"What? I would never do something like that. The real story is that when Rukia was trying to kill Saionji I was walking there and ummm…fell thanks to the sofa which I did not see and fell in front of the sword when it wanted to pierce through my sister…Yes that is what happened!"

"Shut it!" Saionji yelled. "Do not try to makeup stories in order to compensate with the fact that you have a heart too!"

"Sorry for interrupting the family quarrel, but there one more thing I would like to ask you!" Ichigo said, sounding much more polite and understanding this time. "If she tried to kill you, why do you want to save her?"

"I know she didn't do it on purpose. She tried to apologize but we made her feel horrible… not just horrible, even worse… she was very inexperienced and hurt then…" Saionji.

Saionji continued the explanation. "And now we are ready to forgive her." She said and looked up at the sky.

"Whoa…Hold yer horses! I am only goin' there because I wanna kick some soul reaper ass and nothing more! Oh yeah and stop using the word 'we' because you pull me into things I do not even care about."-yelled Arekanderu

The others stared wonderingly, and the crowd slowly disappeared as the fight was officially over, won by neither sides and the sun set behind the hill…

_To be continued!_


	2. Chapter 2

Chapter 2

Chapter 2

"Oh yeah! Before we make another move, can I ask you something Yuroichi?"-asked Arekanderu.

"What is it?"- Yuroichi demanded.

"Well…you see I thought about the situation we are in and I would like to suggest that we make a strategy before rushing into the enemy territory, because it is too risky?"

"COWARD!"-shouted Ichigo.

"Shut up, sidekick soul reaper! If you would have the ability to think you too would have considered that we are heavily outnumbered and to top it off you and I are almost out of spirit energy and are wounded restricting our abilities heavily."-said Arekanderu.

"I am not a sidekick, I am a substitute soul reaper! Also I think you made that up because you are too scared to face an army of soul reapers."-said Ichigo.

"Believe what you want Mr. Substitute! I asked Yuroichi not you."

"Actually he has a point there Ichigo"-said Ishida.

"What?"-asked Ichigo.

"I partially agree with it, too, considering the condition you two are in and also I would like to learn more about the powers Arekanderu and Saionji possess in order to benefit the mission."-said Yuroichi.

Before Arekanderu could answer Saionji interrupted and said "If that is the case then why don't you stay in our house for the night and there we can talk about everything in detail?"

"I would also like to…"-started Arekanderu but was interrupted again by none other than Saionji who said "My brother is keen on weapons so he would like to refill his weapon stock because without them he is practically useless."

"What?? If I am so useless than why did I have to fight Mr. Substitute instead of ya? Not to mention that my attacks look cooler than yours."-said Arekanderu.

"What did you say? Are you trying to mock me?"-asked Saionji.

"Oh so ya figured it out Captain Obvious!"

"That does it you are friggin' dead! Take this…Water Style number 22: Rainstorm!" Out of nowhere two rain clouds formed over Arekanderu's head and started to pour out every ounce of water they had.

"What the heck? Oh wow ya summoned two measily clouds. The only thing that attack was good for is to prove that your attacks are everything but not cool!"

"Ok now prepare to witness my…."-started Saionji but Yuroichi interrupted "Stop making such a ruckus and show us the way to your house!"

The two siblings looked up in confusion while Saionji was in the middle of strangling Arekanderu.

"Do not just sit there! Show us the way NOW!" to show that she is the boss Yuroichi used her sharp claws and cut Arekanderu's arm.

"Yes sir!" said both of the siblings after seeing that the black cat was not kidding. Both of them started to move in one direction so the others could follow.

After an hour of speechless walking, due to Yuroichi's demonstration of dominance, they arrived at a house located outside the village. The house was rather a small looking one which could barely provide enough space for two people.

"So that is what you call a house! Seems like a senseless person like you Mr. I have no feelings has a house which reflects their personality. The only thing that bothers me is that how could your sister live in something like that."-said Ichigo breaking the silence.

"What did you say sidekick? Well excuse me for not having a house which fulfills the demands of a girly looking man like you! Also my sister and I have reunited two weeks ago so she did not have enough time to complain because most of the time she was training to master her spiritual powers!"-said Arekanderu in fury.

"Sidekick? Girly looking? You want to fight again? No matter I will kill you for that!"

"Both of you stop it."-pleaded Orihime. "We are in an alliance now."

"Orihime is right! Stop it!"-said Yuroichi and Ishida.

"Fine! I would kill him without a sweat anyhow!" –said Ichigo and Arekanderu in total synchro.

"Saionji!" said Arekanderu.

"What now?"-asked Saionji.

"Please show them the way around. I would like to ask Yuroichi something."-said Arekanderu in a gentle voice for a change.

"What is going on?"-asked Ishida. "We have been together for a whole day and not even once he used a tone which is not filled with arrogance or boredom." I think that you lost too much blood do you need some first aid?"

"What the…? You are carrying a first aid kit under your cape? So that is why you wear something as ridiculous as that!"-said Arekanderu in surprise.

"Wrong! I take pride in wearing a white uniform and a cape. Putting that aside. Orihime please heal him before he faints."

"O-ok." Said Orihime and started concentrating her energy.

"Huh? I do not need you to…" Arekanderu started but stopped in the middle of his sentence due to Saionji who kneed him right in the stomach.

"Ok. I will do what you ask but before that it is better if you get healed so you will not die." -said Saionji. Her tone was also more gentle than usual which surprised Arekanderu along with everyone lese.

"Now Saionji has a sudden character change too! Is this a family disease or is it infectious?"-asked Ishida in terror.

"No it is not a disease."-said Yuroichi. "It is rather a form of a brother, sister relationship."

"I understand"-said Ishida.

"Ok all done!" said Orihime.

"Thanks."-said Arekanderu using his original tone. "Can we go Yuroichi?"

"Yes."-said Yuroichi. With that the two parted from the group and went into the forest located behind the house.

"I think we should make our move into the house then. Shouldn't we?"

"Sure."-said Ichigo and Orihime.

"Sorry, but I will not go just yet."-said Ishida.

"Why not?" asked Orihime.

"I would like to make sure that no one can track us here. Chad will you come and help me?"

"Yes."-said Chad.

"If you are sure than help yourselves" said Saionji. "But come back alive."

"Do not worry we will."-said Ishida.

"Do you need help?" asked Ichigo.

"No Kurosaki. Just rest and let Orihime heal you like she healed Arekanderu."

"Are you sure?"-asked Ichigo.

"Affirmative." said Chad. Without further ado they left.

"Let's move then." Said Saionji and started moving towards the door followed by Ichigo and Orihime.

Saionji opened the door and the house inside was as small as it was outside consisting of a dining table, two chairs and two beds on the floor surrounded by a rubble and by a bookcase in the top right corner of the house.

"Well this is such a d…"started Ichigo but Orihime interrupted and said "This is such a nice house! That is what you wanted to say right Ichigo?"

"I wanted to say this is such a dump, to be correct."- Ichigo whispered.

"House? What do you mean?" asked Saionji.

"The place where you live!" shouted Ichigo and as a reward he was pushed to the wall by a stream of water coming from Saionji.

"What was that for?" asked Ichigo.

"First, you do not talk to a woman like that. Second, this is not the part where we live. This part is serving as a disguise"

"What??" asked Ichigo.

"So if I may ask you, where is the real house are?"-asked Orihime.

"I will show you in a minute but before that I need to ask Ichigo to help me move the bookcase."

"Why do you want to move it?" asked Ichigo.

"After you move it you will see."-said Saionji.

"Fine."-said Ichigo. After saying the word he started to pull it away from the corner and after he moved it two meters a staircase was revealed.

"Ok. Follow me" said Saionji. Ichigo was hesitating but after Saionji glared at him he followed.

At the bottom of the staircase a door was present. Saionji took out a key from her pocket and opened it. The view present inside was much more different than it was earlier in the house.

There was a living room present with a carpet and comfortable looking stairs and a small table. Next to it was a smaller kitchen with a cooking stove. There were also rooms probably two for the siblings and one for guests probably.

"Orihime please heal Ichigo now. I will prepare the guest room during that time. After that will you help me cook some dinner?"

"I will, gladly." Said Orihime.

**MEANWHILE….**

"I think that we are at a safe distance now. I do not think that anyone will be eavesdropping on our conversation now."-said Arekanderu and stopped next to a big pine tree.

"I think this is far away from the village too."-said Yuroichi. "What did you want to talk about?"

"You asked me to talk about my abilities and that is the reason I dragged you out into these woods."

"Why could we not talk about this in the house?"

"Because even my sister does not know some of the details because they are a top secret."

"If they are so great secrets then why do you want to share them with me?"

"Because we entered into an alliance in which we should know some details about each other."

"Does that mean that you trust me?"

"Trust is required in a suicide mission like this."

"That is true. So what did you want to tell me?"

"During the fight with the substitute soul reaper I did not use all my abilities so the fire balls and the dark barrier are not the only things I am capable of but I did not hold back because I wanted to."

"Then why did you hold back?"

"I had no other option because I could not have used my full power even if I wanted to."

"Why is that?"

"Because my powers have been limited by a limiter device similar to that of the soul reaper captains get when they go into the real world the only difference is that I cannot remove it."

"You can't?"

"Precisely. I cannot remove it because when I was still alive there was an accident in which I killed my uncle because I was unable to control my full power after I have begun training with him. After that my Father put it on me in order to avoid more accidents like that."

"If it is not too personal, can you answer if I ask how you killed your uncle?"

"I thought you would ask that. I think the answer cannot be avoided can it?"

"After all that I think it would be better if I knew what happened."

"My uncle encouraged me to use the forbidden move my grandfather and father developed while working for the soul reapers which I have learned after only seeing my grandfather perform it once in front of me."

"A forbidden technique?"

"Yes. I think that is why we were assassinated five years later."

"Describe that technique."

"Ok…I remember it clearly. The attack is originally called 'The Dragon From The Pits Of Hell" at least that is how my grandfather called it but my father only called it "Hell Pit Dragon", this is because the attack takes on a different form. There is only one similarity in each form."

"What is it?"

"The gates of hell appear behind the user and you force it open with your own spiritual energy which is taken as a sacrifice. If the user gives less than 80 of their total power the technique consumes only the user and no one else. Also the more you sacrifice the more powerful the attack gets. Its power lies in the exchange of normal spiritual power for the corrupted spiritual energy present in hell and that is what holds its danger too."

"So you say that your family controlled such horrible powers? How did they possibly come up with something like that?"

"It was an order from Seireitei because they wanted new kidou abilities in order to ensure the destruction of hollows. This was a project which was proven to be very dangerous and had to be erased from history."

"Seems like you had your share of misfortune, but how should I help you?"

"I would like to ask you to weaken or completely destroy my limiter if you can because now we need every power we can get."

"After all the sadness and pain that technique caused you, you still want to use it?

"I have to!"

"Very well. It seems like you have made up your mind. I will do everything I can."

"Thanks. That is more than enough for me."

"Before I begin I would like to ask you how much of your total energy can you use now?"

"10."

"Then you have loads of spiritual energy. This will be harder than I thought but I will free up as much as possible. Just bear the pain."

"I will."

**2 Hours later…**

"Pant, pant. I could free up 30 of your total power and I also weakened the limiter so it will eventually release more and more spiritual energy until it disappears."

"I cannot thank you enough for what you did Yuroichi now I can use my second strongest attack which is my genuine creation."

"What does that technique look like?"

"Heh. Sorry but that is a secret, just wait until I show it in a fight."

"Then let's go back."-said Yuroichi

"Because you helped me I will tell you the name."

"Then let's hear it"

"It is called 'The Dragons Of The Twilight Shadows'. Now let's head back.

"OK"

"I want to ask you one more thing."

"Tell me what it is."

"Please keep everything what happened here a secret because not even my sister knows the details about me killing our uncle. She only knows about the limiter and the fact that I cannot control my energy."

"I promise."

**Back at the house…**

"Was everything all right on your side Chad?"-asked Ishida.

"I did not find anything suspicious." answered Chad.

"Should we go i…"started Ishida but stopped in the middle of the sentence.

"What happened?"-asked Chad.

"Didn't you feel that high spiritual pressure earlier?" asked Ishida.

"I did not"

"Well, I did and it is coming from the direction where Yuroichi went earlier. Let's go and check it out!"

"Ok. Should not we tell Ichigo about it?"

"No! Let him recover for now. We can handle this."

"Ok." said Chad and without saying another word they went into the forest on the path used by Yuroichi and Arekanderu when they disappeared into the forest.

**Meanwhile in the forest…**

"Hey! Hold back your spiritual pressure or everyone will come to pursue us!"-shouted Yuroichi.

"Sorry. It takes time to get used to my energy being three times greater than usual."-answered Arekanderu and forced his energy back. "Is it okay now?"

"Much better."-answered Yuroichi. "By the way, aren't we supposed to be back at the house by now?"

"Errrrr…Yeah but it is hard to see in this darkness. I do not have a torch infused into my eyes you know." answered Arekanderu.

"So we are lost! You moron"

"No we are not lost, we are just unsure about where we are headed to. It is not the same."

"Do not make excuses! Shoot a fireball!"

"What for?"

"Fire gives out light so it would lighten our path."

"It certainly would in case of a normal fireball which has a red color, but mine has a black color so it does not give out any color."

"Just shoot it!"

"O-OK."- and Arekanderu shot out a fireball from his hand which, to his surprise, gave out a faint light. "Oh look at that. It actually gives out light. I learn something new everyday."

"Moron." answered Yuroichi.

Meanwhile, on the other side of the forest Ishida and Chad were struggling to find a path too.

"Damn this darkness! I can't see anything."-shouted Ishida but to Ishida's surprise a faint light appeared above the forest. "Can you see that too Chad?"

"Affirmative"-answered Chad.

"Look at its core. It is black. I think that is Arekanderu's fireball requesting help because they were ambushed by that large spiritual energy's owner. Let's go!" The two hurried to the scene. After running for ten minutes, two faint shadows appeared in the distance.

"Chad!"

"Yes?"

"Let's prepare for an ambush! It seems like that one is Yuroichi and the other is the culprit who took Yuroichi as a hostage and killed Arekanderu."

"OK" and without further ado Chad jumped behind a tree and Ishida jumped onto another tree's branch and waited.

"Chad, when I say now we ambush that guy and free Yuroichi."

"OK, I have got your back."

"NOW!" after Ishida shouted out that word he immediately summoned his bow and shot out an arrow in the shadow's direction followed by Chad's energy beam coming from his transformed right arm."

Meanwhile, on Arekanderu's side.

"Thanks to your brilliant plan Yuroichi we have found the right path."-said Arekanderu.

"I knew we would."-answered Yuroichi.

"What the hell?"-shouted Arekanderu while grabbing Yuroichi and jumping away from an energy arrow and a strange energy beam. "Oh so someone planned an ambush!" he jumped up onto a tree and from there into the sky. "OH, SO TEHERE YOU ARE!"-he shouted after seeing a strange bow on a tree and a guy next to another tree. "THIS IS A ONE WAY TICKET FOR YOU STRAIGHT TO HELL, YOU BASTARDS! DARK FIREBALL BARRAGE!"-shooting out fourteen fireballs from his right hand into the ambusher's direction.

"CHAD, LOOK OUT! IT SEEMS LIKE HE CAN STEAL HIS ENEMIES TECHNIQUES!" shouted Ishida to Chad then the two jumped up into the sky too while preparing their attacks.

"Let's show him our full power Chad!" said Ishida and Chad nodded. The two prepared their fully powered attacks and when they were at the same height as their enemy they prepared to launch.

"Damn, they are still alive but now they will not escape, after all one of them stole Ishida's amplifier glove." As the enemy prepared to launch a full power assault Arekanderu started to gather up his energy too. "NOW TAKE THIS! GREAT FIREBALL OF DARKNESS!"

"YOU WILL PAY FOR KILLING ISHIDA!"-said Arekanderu.

"YOU WILL PAY FOR KILLING AREKANDERU!"-shouted Ishida in the same time as Arekanderu.

"What? I am alive!" shouted both Ishida and Arekanderu at the same time.

"If you are alive then who exerted that incredible amount of spiritual pressure?" asked Ishida.

"I will answer anything after the two of you stop shooting me with your bow and energy beams."

"Chad! Do not shoot!" shouted Ishida.

"Did not want to." answered Chad.

The three hit the ground at the same time and Arekandetu started the conversation. "You idiots, didn't you recognize my attack? Only me and, me alone can use the black fireballs!"

"Sorry, I thought that the one with that great spiritual pressure defeated you and stole your attack somehow." answered Ishida.

"I told you that if you don't hold back it will eventually attract attention! –said Yuroichi.

"Yeah but I thought that my teammates could recognize my spiritual energy because it gives out the same essence as before!"

"We are truly sorry. The change in your energy was too great and I did not think it was possible."

"OK. I will tell you why my energy increased."

"Why?" asked Ishida.

"Yuroichi removed the energy limiter I had and my true spiritual energy emerged."

"What? A limiter?"

"Precisely"-said Yuroichi. "Even soul reapers use it on their captains and vice-captains when they enter into the real world."

"And you had one of those?" asked Chad.

"Yes I did but only for training."

"That explains it then."-said Ishida. "If this is settled than let's go back."

"Ok."-said the others and the group headed back to the house. During the trip Arekanderu went next to Ishida and whispered "Hey Ishida, are you good in sewing and creating clothes?"

"Why are you asking that?" asked Ishida.

"Because if you are good I would like to ask a favour from you."

"What is it?" Ishida's eyes lit with excitement.

"You see I would like to wear something other than a kimono for a change and because your outfit is cooler than anyone else's in the team I want your help to make something similar to that."said Arekanderu.

"Hehe. At last someone admits that my outfit is cool." Ishida said victoriously. "I will help you. Just what did you have in your mind?"

"I knew that a flattery like that would greatly boost his ego but I did not think that it would also boost his approval abilities of accepting requests."-Arekanderu thought.

"Oh yeah my idea is to…" and Arekanderu whispered something to Ishida.

"That is perfect." –said Ishida. "After we get back let's get right onto it."

"Ok."-said Arekanderu. "Ishida, this is a top secret mission so do not tell anyone."

"I will not." The conversation ended and after ten minutes they arrived at the house.

"Follow me!" said Arekanderu and lead the group to the staircase into the real house.

"I would have never thought that you have such a hideout." said Ishida in surprise.

"Pretty amazing isn't it," boasted Arekanderu. The door finally emerged and he opened it but the view he had was not pleasant. Chad, Ishida and Yuroichi entered too but were surprised to no end. At the table Saionji and Orihime were chatting, Ichigo was lying n the ground and the dinner on the cooking stem was giving out a black smoke.

"What the hell?" shouted Arekanderu. "I go away for three damn hours and you even lose the ability to cook us dinner!"

"Oh, hello there."-said Saionji and waved at the group.

"Hello there my ass! I should have known that if I leave the house to two women and an unknown dying specimen nothing good would happen."

"Oh, it seems like while talking to Orihime I forgot about the fact that I was cooking."-said Saionji.

"Damn it."-said Arekanderu.

"Sorry!"-said Saionji.

"OK thanks to my sister's clumsiness we will not be able to eat any hot dinner so thank her. Today's dinner is fruit, bread and ham. That is what today's menu contains."

The group settled around the dining table and ate to regain their energy and went to sleep. Only two people are up who are Ishida and Arekanderu. What can they be doing? (Odds are that if they would only be playing poker I would not use such a dramatic tone to ask you.)


	3. Chapter 3

Chapter 3

Chapter 3

The next morning Saionji woke up in the room which she shared with Orihime for the night because the house did not have enough room for all the guests. She went out to get something to drink and make some breakfast only to find Ishida lying on the table, asleep.

"Ishida!"-said Saionji while shaking him to awaken him, luckily she succeeded and Ishida woke up. "Ishida what are you doing here? Didn't you go asleep with Arekanderu yesterday?"

"Huh? Oh, it is you Saionji. Good Morning."-said Ishida half asleep.

"Good morning, but that doesn't answer my question."-said Saionji.

"What was the question?"-asked Ishida.

"Are you deaf or what? OK, I will ask it again. What are you doing here?"

"Well, you see I was making thi…"-Ishida stopped because she seemingly did not find something with his hands. "What? Where the hell is it?"

"Where is what?"-asked Saionji in surprise.

"Don't tell me that…"-said Ishida while looking around in the room searching for something. Ishida grabbed Saionji's shoulder and leant close to her surprising Saionji.

"Wha…What do you want from me?"-asked Saionji in a breaking tone while blushing. Something came to her mind and the surprise turned into anger making her punch Ishida in the stomach with full strength forcing him to his knees. "Just who do you think you are?!"-she shouted. "Why did you grab me like that? If you wanted to hook me up using that method then you were knocking on the wrong door!"

"Oh bugger!"-said Ishida. "What was that for?"

"You invaded my personal space."-said Saionji in an angry tone

"You overreacted!"-replied Ishida

"Shut up! Do you want another punch like that?"-said Saionji while raising her temper.

"No! By the way I only wanted to ask you whether you know about Arekanderu's location."-said Ishida while having trouble with the process of standing up.

"If you wanted to ask only that then why did you have to grab me?"-shouted Saionji

"To make it look more dramatic."-answered Ishida in a casual tone.

"Is that supposed to be a joke?"-asked Saionji in a muggy tone.

"No."- was the reply from Ishida.

"WHAT KIND OF A MORON ARE YOU? NO ONE WOULD DO SOMETHING LIKE THAT!" shouted Saionji while shaking Ishida by the neck.

"Hey what is all this noise? I can't sleep!"- said Ichigo while opening the door of his room. The image which he could see was a rather strange one. He could see a half-dead Ishida being strangled by Saionji who was not willing to let go of Ishida no matter what.

"Hey, stop that!" said Ichigo and hurried to help Ishida. Luckily for Ishida, Ichigo succeeded in taking Saionji's hands off his neck and he could finally breathe some air into his lungs.

"What was this whole show about?"-asked Ichigo.

"Not of your business!"-said Saionji.

"Thanks Ichigo. You saved my life."-said Ishida. "By the way, have you seen Arekanderu anywhere?"

"No! I do not even care about that idiot. I think that he ran away from this mission."-answered Ichigo.

"I beg to differ." said Ishida, but after seeing Saionji go away he asked "Where are you going Saionji?"

"I will change my outfit to the one which I will be wearing during the battles."-she answered and went back into her room.

"Why are you looking for that guy Ishida?" asked Ichigo.

"Arekanderu took something which needed to be tested."-answered Ishida.

"What was it?"-asked Ichigo.

"Sorry, I can't tell you."

"Why is that?"

"This is a secret project and I am not allowed to tell anything about it."

"Secret project?"-asked Ichigo.

"Precisely."-answered Ishida. Ichigo realised that this conversation will not go anywhere so he thought that he should not ask anymore questions. After he decided this Chad emerged from the room Ichigo came out earlier.

"Good Morning!"-said Chad, Ichigo and Ishida.

"Why are you stressed Ishida?" asked Chad.

"I am looking for Arekanderu because he took something which is an unfinished product."-said Ishida.

"What is the product?"-asked Chad.

"I can't tell you, it is a secret."-answered Ishida.

"What is with him?"-Chad whispered to Ichigo.

"Don't ask me, I don't know either."-answered Ichigo. After Ichigo said those words Arekanderu's door opened and all three turned their attention towards the door. The life was coming back to Ishida's face only to disappear again after seeing that the one who came out is only Yuroichi.

"Good morning."-said Ichigo and Chad to Yuroichi.

"Yes, good morning."-said Ishida in a depressed voice.

"Good morning."-said Yuroichi. "What is the matter with you Ishida?" Ishida did not answer.

"He is depressed because Arekanderu took something which was not finished."-said Ichigo.

"What was the thing he took?"-asked Yuroichi.

"We do not know."-said Chad. "He will not tell that to anyone."

"The only thing we can do is to wait for Arekanderu to appear then."-said Yuroichi. Orihime and Saionji came out of their room and Saionji wore a blue kimono which had a dragon crest on the shirt.

"Good morning."-said every one in the team. Saionji glared at Ishida who did not even notice due to being lost in his thoughts.

"What is the problem Ishida?"-asked Orihime.

"My brother took something which was not supposed to be taken."-answered Saionji instead of Ishida. "Should we eat some break…"-started Saionji but stopped after sensing a powerful spiritual pressure.

"Just what was that?"-asked Ichigo.

"There is just no way he could exert such spiritual pressure!"-said Saionji.

"That uniform could not have boosted his energy this much!"-said Ishida and ran to the staircase followed by Saionji.

"Let's follow them!"-said Yuroichi and with that all of them disappeared to the staircase.

When Ishida and Saionji exited the house the unknown spiritual pressure hit them again but it seemed stronger than before.

"How could his energy increase like that?"-asked Saionji.

"I did not think that the suit would increase his energy like that."-said Ishida, more to himself than to Saionji.

"What suit?"-asked Saionji. The rest of the team also appeared and waited Ishida's answer.

"The amplifier suit we made yesterday."-the answer came from behind everyone. Everyone turned around and saw Arekanderu. Arekanderu's appearance was totally different from yesterday. Instead of his black kimono he wore black jeans and a black shirt while his hand was in the jeans' pockets. He had black shoes and black socks instead of sandals and his black hair was now standing on its edge facing towards the sky unlike before when it was facing towards the ground.

"Yo!" said Arekanderu. "Wassup?" he took one of his hands out and shook it towards his team which enabled them to see that above the wrist the shirt turns into a dragon head.

"Don't just stand there and say wassup!" –shouted Ishida. "At least tell me how it works!"

"Oh, are you talking about the suit?"-asked Arekanderu.

"What do you think I am talking about? Huh? How did you put those dragon heads there? It was not in the original design." –said Ishida.

"The suit is working perfectly for a prototype and I am getting the hang of it too. It increases my energy by 10 currently but I want to control the suit's powers more, but I used it only for 2 hours so I do not think that this level of mastery is too bad."-said Arekanderu.

"What? Only 10 percent increase? I think your energy increased much more at least if I consider the strength of your spiritual pressure."-said Ishida.

"I think that only I can understand that the 10 increase doesn't mean his current energy level but his real energy which is still sealed. I also think that he made this suit in order to put more strain on the spirit limiter so it breaks down faster."-thought Yuroichi.

"Brother, what the hell are you wearing? It looks ridiculous, it looks similar to the outfit of Ishida."-said Saionji.

"What did you say?"-shouted both Arekanderu and Ishida.

"Don't worry about it Ishida! A woman cannot understand real style especially if that woman uses my old battle suit design, the only difference is that mine was black!"-said Arekanderu.

"Enough!"-Saionji shouted and attempted to punch Arekanderu in the stomach, but unlike before he easily dodged it. She tried to punch him again but he dodged it again.

"You are slow. What happened? You were much faster yesterday."-said Arekanderu with a grin on his face.

"Seems like you have gotten faster, so the spiritual pressure you have is not only for intimidation!"-replied Saionji. "Can you remember the old days when we were training in the human world?"

"Yes, I can but why is it relevant to the situation we are in now?"-asked Arekanderu.

"Whenever I learned a new move I had to try it out in battle against you."-replied Saionji.

"Those were easy wins, I am not interested if you want to make me have flashbacks about the old days."-said Arekanderu in a bored tone.

"I do not wanna recap about the days when we were alive either!"-snapped Saionji. "I think that you too can remember that after we met here, after we were killed, I was the one who was stronger than you."

"Bad memories…but my death is not due to the fact that I was murdered or anything, I just happened to fall into a sword so my death is an accident like getting hit by a truck or something like that."-said Arekanderu.

"Being overpowered by your sister, you are really lame Mr. Dragon shirt!" said Ichigo while smiling.

"I would like you to know whether you would be able to defeat anybody if your abilities would be limited by a device which drains nearly every ounce of spiritual energy you have in your body."-said Arekanderu.

"Why would you like to know that?"-asked Ichigo.

"I had a handicap like that during the fight with you. To be honest I gained my limiter two weeks before I died and lived with it until yesterday's evening when it was removed by Yuroichi."-said Arekanderu.

"You think that I would believe that?"-replied Ichigo.

"You should Ichigo, because I was the one who removed it so this is not a lie!"-said Yuroichi. "You should not let your hatred cloud your judgement."-continued Yuroichi.

"Ok."-said Ichigo.

"Saionji, continue your speech."-said Yuroichi.

"I wanted to say that he should have a battle with me in order to prove that his new abilities are useful in battle."-said Saionji.

"If you wanna lose that badly then I will fight you, but let's make this more interesting."-replied Arekanderu.

"How?"-asked Saionji.

"I have to defeat you in five minutes or if I can't then you win."-said Arekanderu.

"Saionji, can't I fight him instead of you?"-asked Ichigo.

"No!" replied Saionji.

"Why is that? I still have to finish my battle with him."-said Ichigo.

"This is a type of family tradition I think, and she also has an iron will so if she wants to fight me she will not rest until I fight with her."-said Arekanderu.

"But…"-started Ichigo, but Yuroichi interrupted and said: "Stop Ichigo. This is a family thing and we should not get involved in it."

"Why are they fighting at a time like this? They are siblings after all."-said Orihime.

"In my opinion this is a form of love, they help each other test their battle manoeuvres in order to see whether there are flaws within the attack patterns so it can be corrected before going into a fight to the death."-said Ishida.-"I am also looking forward to see the amplifier suit in action."

"I accept your terms brother, but before we start I will go and get my sword."-said Saionji and without another word she went back into the house.

"Is she a swordswoman?" asked Chad.

"More or less I think you can call her that, but I would call her a close combat specialist." answered Arekanderu.

"Specialist?"-asked Orihime.

"Yes. She favours close combat above long distance fighting meaning that she is my complete opposite in the ways we fight."-said Arekanderu.

"Opposite?"-asked Chad.

"As you have seen during my fight with Mr. Substitute I never went close to him, even when I was low on energy I used throwing knives and a rope dart instead of going hand to hand."-said Arekanderu.

"I see."-said Chad.

"Can one of you be the one who will time the match and start the match after Saionji reappears?"-asked Arekanderu.

"I will." -said Yuroichi. At that moment Saionji appeared with a short sword hanging around her waist. She drew it out, stepped in front of Arekanderu and then stepped 20 steps backwards and took on a stance of readiness. Arekanderu did not even move an inch, the only thing he did was to draw out his hands from his pockets.

"Won't you take on a battle stance?"-asked Saionji.

"Why should I? I am fine like this."-said Arekanderu surprising everyone.

"Are you two ready?"-asked Yuroichi.

"Yes!"-said the two combatants.

"Then start the battle!"-said Yuroichi.

In that instant Saionji jumped towards Arekanderu and tried to cut her brother's neck with it but Arekanderu dodged by going to the left. Saionji immediately shouted: "Water art number 10: Geyser festival!" after saying that water started to come out from the ground like when a geyser erupts but these eruptions were centred around Arekanderu. In order to avoid a contact with the hot water he jumped up towards the sky as high as he could. When he looked down he could not find any traces of Saionji anywhere.

"Where did she go?" asked Orihime.-"She completely vanished."

After hearing Orihime say that Arekanderu knew where Saionji would be, behind him. He turned his had backwards and could see Saionji preparing for an attack with the sword which could cause serious damage in their current position. Saionji launched the attack. With everyone frozen speechless they could see Saionji slicing through Arekanderu. Even Saionji was surprised because she seemingly did not expect that her brother would not dodge. After some seconds a very surprising thing happened. Arekanderu disappeared. Saionji asked "What the hell?" and the answer came.

"Your eyes are rather slow. DARK FIRE BLAST!"-said Arekanderu from 2 meters behind Saionji. The fireball was launched and was approaching Saionji at a terrifying speed. Saionji twisted her body and avoided a direct contact with the fireball, but it still hit her right ankle a bit. She started to fall down with her head facing the ground. She rolled over so she could land on her feet instead of the head. She landed safely on the ground and immediately looked up towards Arekanderu's location. He was nowhere to be found. She looked up and down and searched from left to right, but there was not even a trace.

"I hope you realise that you would have been killed by now it this was a real battle."-said Arekanderu appearing behind Saionji with a black fireball in his right hand above Saionji's head. Saionji turned her head to the right and could see his brother behind her, ready to give the finishing blow.

"Can't you even test my new abilities? This battle barely needed 50 of my energy without the boost this suit gives me."-said Arekanderu.

"What?"-asked Ishida.-"No way. That must be a lie."

"Shut up!"-said Arekanderu. "She was not using her full power either. She was holding back 40 of her true power at least. That sword's sheath acts as a limiter. The kimono she was wearing yesterday is also used to suppress her energy and force it to stay in her body so she will not be detected because I am not sure whether Soul Society is after us or not."

"Does everyone have a limiter in this family?"-asked Ichigo.

"They are very useful. They allow us to stay hidden so the watchdogs of Soul Society will not find us."-answered Arekanderu.

"Fine, I will use my full strength."-said Saionji and threw the sword's sheath away. At that moment her spiritual pressure increased tremendously causing Inoue to lose her balance for a moment but Chad caught her before she could fall down.

"Just do not die after I make my first move."-said Saionji.

"Bring it on!"-said Arekanderu with confidence and stood in one place like before.

"Is that he effect of my spiritual pressure on you?"-said Saionji. "You did not even move an inch."

"Hardly, I am just bored."-replied Arekanderu.

"We will see who will be bored after the fight is over."-said Saionji. "Water art 29: Water Dragon Parade!"-after saying those words ten water dragons were formed, from the leftover water created during the geyser eruptions.

"As you know this is my second strongest attack so be prepared."-said Saionji with confidence. Arekanderu did not say a word, but instead he expressed his feelings with a yawn. It seemed like that Arekanderu's behaviour pissed Saionji off so she launched the dragons all at once towards her brother.

"You have launched the countdown towards your own downfall."-said Arekanderu. "The Darkened Flame's Dragon Barrage."-after saying the phrase 16 black dragons appeared and were launched towards the water dragons. The two attacks clashed, but none could overcome the other. Everyone was looking at how the two attacks try to overcome each other ,even Arekanderu was looking at the dragons. Saionji used that chance to launch a direct attack at Arekanderu. She used her teleportation technique and disappeared. She reappeared behind Arekanderu when Arekanderu shouted: "Dark Flame Spiral!" the dark fire erupted from the ground encircling Arekanderu to protect him from the attack. Saionji reacted immediately and concentrated water around her blade so she can cut through the fire. She swung her sword which easily pierced through the flames.

"Game over."-said Ichigo. "That idiot is dead."

"It is game over but not for me."-came a reply from above. Everyone looked up towards the direction the voice came from. They could see Arekanderu in mid-air with his hand facing towards the ground ready to attack.

"Dark Fireball Barrage"-Arekanderu said calmly. A second after saying the attack's name fireballs started to shoot out from his hand towards Saionji. Saionji attempted to dodge, but Arekanderu appeared next to her. He grabbed her and then jumped away from the fireballs.

"Wha-Why did he do that?-asked Ichigo. "He could have won."

"Damn, should I explain everything to you? I wanted to see whether Saionji would resort to her strongest technique, but she did not which means that she knows when to use it."-said Arekanderu. "Are my abilities good enough for this mission?" asked Arekanderu and turned towards Saionji.

"I have to admit that you are no pushover but did you really use your full power?"-said Saionji.

"Why should I use my full power against an opponent who isn't using his or her full power?"-answered Arekanderu with another question.

"How did you figure it out?"-asked Saionji, she seemed nervous. "I admit, I only used 95. How much did you use?"

"I used 90 of my full power."-said Arekanderu. "I used the suit as well a bit, Ishida."

"Arekanderu!"-whispered Saionji. "You are still weak."

"Oh, so you did realise that the limiter is still working."-answered Arekanderu.

"I admit that you are much stronger than you were yesterday, but this is still nowhere near to the power you had when we were alive."-whispered Saionji.

"Yes, but this suit is not used only to increase my strength by drawing in nearby spirit particles either. Its main purpose is to put pressure on the limiter by bombing it with energy so it will eventually disappear and when it disappears my power will return."-said Arekanderu. Saionji did not answer. Arekanderu started to walk away towards the team. He turned towards the house, but Ichigo stopped him.

"What is it?-asked Arekanderu and looked Ichigo in the eye.

"Why did you save your sister instead of finishing the match?"-asked Ichigo.

"Ichigo, you shouldn't ask something like that when it is obvious."-said Chad. "Arekanderu is Saionji's brother so he saved his sister due to their bond."

"I want his answer not yours."-said Ichigo. "What is your answer?"

"I saved her because she is more useful if she is not hurt."-said Arekanderu.

"What was that? You only saved her because she is useful?"-asked Ichigo with anger in his tone.

"Didn't you hear it clearly?"-asked Arekanderu. After saying those words Ichigo grabbed Arekanderu's shirt and drew Arekanderu closer to himself.

"How dare you say something like that? Especially when she is near you? You are her bigger brother and you were born sooner so you can protect her."-shouted Ichigo.

"Ichigo stop it, my brother has his reasons for saying this."-said Saionji.

"Shut the hell up Saionji!"-said Arekanderu. "This business is none of your concern so do not interfere!"-said Arekanderu while his eyes were glowing with anger.

"So you want to know why I said that don't you? Then I will tell you!"-said Arekanderu with anger and shook Ichigo's hands off himself. "My reason for saying those words is that I said the truth, maybe the feeling which you call sibling love or whatever has something to do with it but I don't know and I don't care a single bit! I have no need for feelings like that because they are only present to distract us from our goals and cloud our judgement! Also, in my opinion if someone cannot solve their problems they should die because of those problems! Satisfied by my answer? Oh, wait I just remembered that I don't care about your opinion!"-said Arekanderu and without another word he went back into the house.

"Your brother is a real jerk."-said Ichigo to Saionji.

"I do not think that you are obliged to say that Ichigo because after all you are the one who forced him to say that."-said Ishida.

"Maybe I am not obliged to say it but I am right."-said Ichigo. Ishida could not counter this.

"You misunderstood my brother." -said Saionji.

"What? So you are still on his side after he said that?"-asked Ichigo.

"Yes I am because you do not know anything about the lives we had and the true meaning hidden within the lines."-said Saionji.

"Tell us then."-said Yuroichi calmly.

"I planned to."-said Saionji. "When we were alive my brother did not get the cream from life all the time. After our parents divorced we moved to the capital of the country we lived in. The separation of our family had a great impact on him and in the school he was in he was also pushed around and was disliked even by the teachers because he came from the countryside…"Saionji said but Ichigo interrupted.

"I would have hated him as well because he is an idiotic jerk."

"Shut up! Let me finish."-said Saionji.

"Just continue."-said Yuroichi.

"Back then he was the opposite person as he is today."-said Saionji. "He was usually happy, smiling, and carefree and trusted nearly everybody which led to many of his hardships. He was stabbed in the back by most of his so called friends. So, in order to protect himself from the ones who just want to make fun of him, he hid most of his emotions and formed the personality we see today. This personality was only strengthened when our family was slaughtered and during the time he spent here in Rukongai alone."-said Saionji.

"Oh, such a heart breaking story I am going to cry."-said Ichigo. "In my opinion he is still a scumbag!"

"Don't say that Ichigo."-said Orihime. "He is similar to you in a way."

"What? I am not similar to like that guy! I want to protect my family because of the bonds I share with them, not because they are useful for my deeds!"-replied Ichigo.

"My brother tries to protect me in his own style which is different from yours."-said Saionji. "When we were still alive and I got upset when I saw a kid being protected by its older sibling and I complained about it to my brother he told me that as the older sibling he is only here to show which path I should not take in life because he represents the product of that road."

"There may be some logic in that."-said Ishida. "He really encourages you to be different than him."

"How did your brother gain his dark flame abilities?"-asked Yoruichi, interrupting the current conversation.

"I will tell you everything about his training if that helps."-replied Saionji.

"Thanks."-said Yoruichi.

"Arekanderu asked our dad to train us so we can master our spiritual abilities, but when Dad tried to determine the element he is most suited to control there was no response from the device. The device clearly showed that mine is either air or water and my Dad's was water, but it did not show anything from the four main elements when it was connected to my brother."-told Saionji ,but stopped due to an interruption.

"What does that mean?"-interrupted Ichigo.

"Ichigo please listen to the story she has to tell."-said Orihime.

"Ok, I was just curious that's all."-said Ichigo.

"Just wait until I get there."-said Saionji. "Does anyone have a question before I resume my story?"

"No!"-said Yuroichi.

"Due to the fact that the energy device did not show what kind of powers he has Dad said that we will learn his type after learning which element's power can he control the most professionally. Dad showed him the most basic attacks from all the four elements our family could use, but my brother could not use any of those including the fire element. After that Dad said that Arekanderu should find his own style by training alone while I mastered the basics of controlling the air and the water. After four weeks (28 days) Dad asked him to show what he discovered. The attack Arekanderu showed him was the black fireball which is one of his signature attacks now. After Arekanderu demonstrated his ability Dad secretly asked me to become a water specialist instead of an air specialist because the only thing which can defeat the fire is water. During the training sessions we had with Dad one great weakness was revealed which can make my brother's attacks useless..."-said Saionji but was interrupted again.

"What is the weakness?"-asked Ichigo.

"If you wouldn't have interrupted me then you would have learned it by now."-snapped Saionji.

"I am sorry."-said Ichigo.

"If you interrupt me again then I will kill you!"-said Saionji. "Now then, where was I? Oh yes the weakness. The weakness is a very simple one. The happier and more lively he gets the weaker is dark abilities are because those feelings are related to the light while on the other hand the more gloomy and depressed he gets the more powerful his attacks are. So…."-Saionji was interrupted again.

"That crappy explanation really ruined the mood."-said Ichigo, to a rather annoyed Saionji.

"Do you want a grave or a tomb?"-asked Saionji from Ichigo.

"What?"-said Ichigo.

"You are so dead."-said Saionji, but Yuroichi had other plans.

"Hey, Saionji."-said Yuroichi.

"Yes?"-asked Saionji.

"Can you tell me about 'The Dragons of The Twilight Shadows'?"-asked Yuroichi.

"The what?"-asked Ishida.

"How do you…know about that?"-asked Saionji looking very surprised.

"Arekanderu briefly mentioned the name yesterday after I removed his limiter."-answered Yuroichi.

"I will not be able to tell you much about it because he never showed me."-said Saionji.

"That will be enough just tell me."-said Yuroichi.

"As I know he only used it twice and no more in an actual battle and that was when Dad and Arekanderu tested the attack against modified souls the Soul Society gave us in order to practice the technique they wanted our Dad and Grandfather to develop. They only tested it twice in a row against a small army of mod-souls, but that attack was so devastating that it wiped them all out in two simultaneous attacks."-said Saionji.

"Did you say a small army?"-asked Ishida.

"Yes, at least that is what Mom told me oh yeah and Arekanderu developed it without any help and he is the only one who can use it."-answered Saionji.

"Do you have any more information about that technique or your brother's abilities?"-asked Yuroichi.

"I told you everything Mom told me about Arekanderu, oh yeah; Mom also said that those dragons are one of his strongest moves if not the most powerful."-answered Saionji. "She also told me that the attack looks just like my strongest attack but there is one difference."

"What is it?"-asked Yuroichi.

"As my brother said: 'Those dragons are to kill and nothing more or nothing less' That was also the reason why he never showed it to me in battle."-said Saionji.

"So she truly does not know that those dragons are only the second strongest in her brother's arsenal. If she is correct about the destructive powers the twilight dragons have then I wonder how powerful the hell flare dragon is. If her family was truly in control of such powers then I am beginning to understand why they were assassinated."-thought Yuroichi.

"Saionji may I ask you another question?"-asked Yuroichi.

"Yes."-answered Saionji.

"When did the two of you learn shunpo (flash step)?-asked Yuroichi.

"Shu-npo? What is that?"-asked Saionji.

"What? You can move that fast and you do not even know its name?"-asked Yuroichi.

"Are you talking about our teleportation?"-said Saionji.

"Oh, so that is how you call it."-said Yuroichi.

"Our teleportation technique allows us to teleport anywhere within a hundred meter radius in an instant, but we did not give it a fancy name like you did. To be honest I don't think that it has a name."-explained Saionji. "It is not a type of very fast movement, it is teleportation which is harder to detect in combat. Only our family can use it."

"I see."-said Yuroichi. "If it is teleportation and not just some fast movement then how could your brother detect where you will reappear during the fight?"

"Well, he developed some really sharp senses because he was always a paranoid and always said that 'you can never be too paranoid', hehe."

"You ruined the mood again."-said Ichigo. With this he really pissed Saionji off who paid him back with a knee in the stomach. After the hit Ichigo did not say anything from the surprise and from the power of the attack.

"Cut it out!"-shouted Yoruichi. "Let's eat something and then go to Seireitei."

Without another word Yuroichi went into the house and the others followed her reluctantly.

To Be Continued…


	4. Chapter 4

Chapter 4

Chapter 4

Rukia sighed. She was lamenting about the times she spent in the world of humans, with Ichigo and his friends. She was now locked in a cell and her only companion was the occasionally visiting Renji who uttered a mere few words then left, and ever so unbelievably the cleaner boy, Hantarou, who she knew she could open up to.

However, she felt really alone. Knowing you will be executed in a few days' time was an unimaginably heavy burden. She tried lessening it by telling about it to Hantarou, but it did not help. She felt as closed away from who and what really mattered as ever. She was near collapsing – and she was disappointed in herself that she was being so weak, fragile.

Yoruichi led the way into the house and into the staircase. However she noticed the movement of Arekanderu's energy while teleporting and stopped. The others noticed that Yoruichi stopped unexpectedly.

"What's the matter Yoruichi?"-asked Ichigo.

"Nothing, I just remembered that I have to do something outside. Just go in. I will follow you in minutes."-said Yoruichi and rushed outside leaving everyone in surprise other than Saionji.

"Let's move already!"-said Saionji drawing in the attention of everyone around her. "We will eat our lunch now so we will be able to move into Seireitei."-continued Saionji while moving down the stairs.

"But…"-started Ichigo which immediately drew Saionji's temper out.

"There will not be any buts now!"-she shouted. "I am in charge now so just follow me!"-she continued and ended up in a furious glare and a reddening face which persuaded the others to do as she says.

"I would like to see what happens if someone insults her."-whispered Uryuu.

"I wouldn't want to see that. Would you?"-whispered Ichigo.

"No."-replied Chad and Orihime was shaking her head. They went into the living quarters to prepare the lunch and to avoid Saionji getting mad.

Meanwhile, outside the house:

"Why did you come out so suddenly"-asked Yuroichi.

"We need to talk."-replied Arekanderu.

"About what?"-asked Yoruichi.

"Mainly everything."-said Arekanderu.

"Then start."-said Yuroichi.

"Are you planning to enter through the front gate?"-asked Arekanderu.

"Why yes."-said Yoruichi. Silence fell over Arekanderu.

"That's suicidal. Don't you have a better plan than that?"-said Arekanderu finally.

"That's what they would not expect at any rate."-replied Yoruichi.

"I will trust you on that."-said Sonny.

"Did you use 90 of your full power before?"-asked Yuroichi.

"Yes, but without the amplifier. Increasing my energy is its secondary function after all."-answered Arekanderu.

"So I guessed correctly."-noted Yoruichi.

"Its main function is to increase the pressure exerted onto my limiter, thus making it easier to brake."-said Arekanderu. "But are you sure that there will not be an army of shinigami waiting for us there?"

"I am sure because they are confident about the walls impenetrability."-said Yuroichi and started going towards the house.

"Wait, I haven't finished yet."-said Arekanderu.

"Maybe, but I am finished talking for now. Let's go in and eat. You must be hungry too."-said Yuroichi and went in leaving Arekanderu alone.

"I wanted to tell that cat that my teleportation may be able to transport us into Seireitei."-thought Arekanderu and went after Yuroichi. Yuroichi waited for him at the staircase.

"Why are you coming with us in reality?"-asked Yuroichi from Arekanderu.

"I am going there to kill the ones responsible for my family's death."-said Arekanderu.

"Are you telling the truth?"-asked Yuroichi.

"Yes!"-said Arekanderu with a raised voice.

"In my opinion you are going there to kill the ones responsible for your family's death so a deed like that will never be committed again."-said Yuroichi.

"That's your opinion. I don't care about things until they influence my life so I am not going there in the name of these so called future events."-said Arekanderu and turned away. Yuroichi went down the stairs and Arekanderu followed. Arekanderu realized that Yuroichi might not be able to open the door at the bottom so he teleported in front of Yuroichi and opened the door for her. Yuroichi went in followed by Arekanderu. Inside Ichigo, Chad, Orihime and Uryuu were sitting at the table. Saionji was probably in the kitchen. Ichigo and Arekanderu crossed eyes, but Arekanderu wasn't interested in Ichigo so he went into a corner and stayed there gazing off into nothing. Ichigo turned away his head and started to talk with Orihime. Chad and Uryuu felt the pressure in the atmosphere the two were creating and thought that they shouldn't say a word. Yuroichi behaved like a cat and settled down on the carpet in Saionji's room. After a couple of minutes Saionji came storming out of the kitchen with a cooking pan full of some kind of soup with the smell of burning from the kitchen which Arekanderu immediately realized.

"It's time for lunch!"-said Saionji with a smile.

"I'd rather call it dieing time."-said Arekanderu to piss of Saionji.

"What was that?!"-shouted Saionji.

"I was just referring to your cooking abilities."-said Arekanderu.

"I have more developed cooking abilities than you do!"-said Saionji.

"That is expected from a woman."-said Arekanderu. "After all you are the ones who were sitting at home for a dozens of years before you were allowed to work."

"I really hate you at times like this!"-shouted Saionji.

"I hate you too!"-said Ichigo.

"I don't give a damn about your opinion pineapple-head!"-said Arekanderu to Ichigo. "Neither do I care about your opinion, woman!"-said Arekanderu to Saionji which crossed the line with her and threw the bailer at him. Arekanderu did not dodge and the bailer hit his forehead. The bailer fell to the floor without having a remarkable impact on Arekanderu. Everyone was looking at him.

"Ouch, that hurt."-he said finally.

"Is that all you can say?"-shouted Saionji and went closer to him and continued to shout at him while hitting him sometimes.

"I don't know about their family, but if I look at them now it seems like Arekanderu is the water and Saionji is the fire."-whispered Chad.

"What makes you say that?"-asked Ichigo.

"Arekanderu is the calm one and Saionji is like a wildfire now which is the complete opposite of their elements."-answered Chad.

"Huh?"-said Ichigo.

"You see Kurosaki, Saionji is the water which should be calm, but she is very short tempered. In the meantime Arekanderu who should be the fire which consumes everything in its path behaves like a slacker who doesn't get worked up by anything."-explained Uryuu.

"That is exactly the reason why I think that from those two Saionji is much more human-like than her brother."-said Ichigo.

"We know that you hate him."-said Uryuu. "But in my opinion he is a bit like you and the two of you may work like magnets."

"What?"-asked Ichigo.

"You are like magnets because when two similar poles meet they repel each other in case of magnets and it might be the same with you."-said Uryuu.

"We are not similar!"-shouted Ichigo which drew the attention of Arekanderu too. Ichigo realized that he said that he shouted those words, but it was all too late for that.

"Similar to who?"-asked Arekanderu while jumping away from Saionji.

"No, no. You don't know who we were talking about."-said Ichigo.

"It seemed like you don't like that person."-noted Arekanderu with a surprised face while Saionji was still trying to hit him and Uryuu laughing silently in the background.

"You are right about that."-said Ichigo and turned his attention to Uryuu.

"Why didn't you stop me?"-whispered Ichigo to Uryuu.

"I was as surprised as you were."-said Uryuu.

"Yes, sure you were."-said Ichigo. In the mean time Saionji stopped chasing after Arekanderu and started to breath in the air around her heavily.

"Can we start to eat already?"-asked Arekanderu.

"What is the magic word, moron?"-said Saionji.

"Shut up retard!"-said Arekanderu.

"That's three words! The magic word is "please" you immature, antisocial, psychopathic, animal-hater, emo, brainless, dorky -"-said Saionji.

"OK, Saionji, I think we get the picture."-said Yoruichi.

"Thanks for the compliments."-said Arekanderu.

Saionji looked ready to kill but the next moment she took a deep inhale then let it out. As calm as the surface of the still water, she inquired, "Could somebody just hit him already? He's not worth _me_ hitting him,"

"Gladly," Ichigo ignored the last sentence and hit Arekanderu with full force. Before Arekanderu could even think of hitting back Yoruichi jumped in between them and begun lecturing them as if she was a pro at it.

"Just what are you thinking?"-shouted Yoruichi while Arekanderu was standing up with a bleeding mouth. Arekanderu stood up, looked at Ichigo with hate in his eyes and rubbed his mouth on the right side where it was bleeding. He spat the blood on the floor and gave his full attention to Ichigo.

"Dragons…"-started Arekanderu while Ichigo took out Zangetsu. "…of the Twilight…"

"No, he will attempt to use that attack?"-asked Uryuu. No one answered and Saionji watched, raising an eyebrow inquiringly.

"Shado…"-said Arekanderu preparing to wrap things up, but Yuroichi extended her claws and pierced them into Arekanderu's left leg. Arekanderu stopped his attack and his energy build-up diminished.

"Aaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaagh, that friggin' hurt!!"-shouted Arekanderu and grabbed his left leg. "What was that for? I didn't want to release it."-said Arekanderu while everyone looked at him with a surprised and disappointed face. "By the way, did you clean those claws? I don't wanna die because of blood poisoning."

"What are you saying? Have you gone mad?"-asked Ichigo while Yuroichi was shouting at Arekanderu.

"No, he was always this hygiene freak."-said Saionji, rolling her eyes in annoyance, then went into the kitchen for the plates to kick away her boredom.

"Just what were you thinking, fool?"-shouted Yuroichi to Arekanderu. "Do you want to kill your own comrades?"

"If that comrade is Ichigo then I assure you that I will kill the comrade."-answered Arekanderu which made Yuroichi to pierce her claws into Arekanderu's left leg again.

"What's your answer now?"-asked Yuroichi in a diabolic tone.

"I wo…would never do something like that!"-said Arekanderu in pain.

"Much better."-said Yuroichi and went back into Saionji's room.

"This is why I hate cats."-whispered Arekanderu to himself and stood up with his left leg bleeding. Orihime recognized that he cannot stand well on that leg immediately. She also realized that Arekanderu would probably just ignore her help so she decided to act without his approval.

"Shun'ou, Ayame! Sontenkisshun, I reject!"-said Orihime and Arekanderu's leg started to heal. Arekanderu didn't say a word and he was healed within seconds.

"Thank you."-said Arekanderu, but that 'thank you' had no life in it.

"You are welcome."-said Orihime and Arekanderu turned towards her direction with an angry face.

"Don't do that again without my approval."-said Arekanderu while Ichigo was sitting down again. Ichigo wanted to say something Arekanderu went into his room and shut the door. Saionji came out with the plates and put them on the table, one for each person. She also put one on the floor for Yuroichi who came out of Saionji's room. Saionji realized that Arekanderu is missing so she went to his room and knocked, but there was no answer.

"HEY! OPEN THE DOOR NOW!"-shouted Saionji, but there was no answer which pissed her off again. "If you don't open it I will flood your room so you can drown and die in there like a stray dog!"-she continued while Arekanderu teleported out of his room and sat on one chair without anybody noticing. After knocking for half a minute Saionji turned around to ask something from the group.

"If you won't come out then die in there."-said Saionji and walked towards the table.

"She really is a psychopathic person."-whispered Uryuu.

"You didn't tell me any knew information."-said Arekanderu.

"Arekanderu?"-asked Uryuu.

"Hi."-said Arekanderu.

"When did you come out?"-asked Saionji.

"When you were shouting with the door."-said Arekanderu.

"Whatever, I don't care about you. Let's eat and get going."-said Saionji and set down. Arekanderu waited for everyone to take a dip from the soup before he took his own share. He tasted it and the expression of disgust appeared on his face.

"What's your problem now?"-asked Saionji.

"I hate when I am right."-replied Arekanderu and disappeared.

"For the first time, I have to agree with that bastard."-said Ichigo which caused Saionji to hit him.

"It's NOT horrible!"-she said and continued to eat. Arekanderu reappeared in the meantime with a half watermelon and an apple in his mouth.

"You're gross."-said Saionji.

"Shuuh ut."-said Arekanderu with the apple still in his mouth.

"Say that again without the apple in yer mouth."-said Saionji. Arekanderu put his palm under the apple and concentrated his black flame to work like a Bunsen burner to incinerate the apple.

"I said 'shut up'. People eat using their mouth."-said Arekanderu.

"Still it is gross and you're an idiot."-objected Saionji while Ichigo was nodding in the background.

"Oh, this is such a drag. Let us eat so we can move out."-said Arekanderu and teleported again and reappeared on his chair with a knife to eat the watermelon.

"Would you stop this disappearing?"-asked Saionji.

"It's been forty years since I used this technique. Until now my control was bad due to the lack of energy, but now it's good again."-said Arekanderu and started to eat the watermelon.

"So you admit that you are weak?"-asked Ichigo to tease Arekanderu, but without result.

"You shouldn't be talking. If you were nearly beaten by the energy I had back then you should dig a hole for yourself and bury yourself."-said Arekanderu.

"You…"-started Ichigo, but Arekanderu was lost in his thoughts and was still eating. Ichigo decided to sit quietly and eat because he would only find closed ears. The lunch went quietly and when they finished Arekanderu went into his room for seconds while the others got ready to depart.

"All set?"-asked Yuroichi.

"Yes sir!"-said everyone except Arekanderu who was gazing into space. "Arekanderu?"

"I am here."-replied Arekanderu.

"You ready?"-asked Yuroichi.

"Yep, sure."-answered Arekanderu in a bored tone.

"Then let's go."-said Yuroichi and started to move towards the staircase followed by everybody else. They went out of the house, Arekanderu locked the door and the group started to move towards Seireitei. The journey was long and Ichigo spent time with pep talk joined by everyone except Arekanderu and Yuroichi. After an hour Ichigo has seen the outskirts of Seireitei and started to run towards it.

"Hey, look! There it is!"-he shouted back at the others.

"No, you fool! Stop!"-shouted Yuroichi, but Ichigo wasn't listening. Arekanderu noticed the wall starting to move downwards in the sky.

"Damn, I didn't want to step in like this."-said Arekanderu and teleported in front of Ichigo and pulled him back.

"What the…?"-said Ichigo while Arekanderu was dragging him backwards. The gate fell down in front of them along with Jidanbou.

"A giant?"-asked Ishida with an amazed face.

"Yes, he is called Jidanbou. He is the gatekeeper and during the time he served at this gate he was never defeated. He is a man of legend."-said Yuroichi.

"I have heard about him. But he will be defeated here."-said Saionji gaining everyone's attention.

"We fight our combats one-on-one here."-said Jidanbou to Arekanderu and Ichigo who were standing up.

"I know the rules."-said Arekanderu.

"I will take you on."-said Ichigo, but Arekanderu put his arm in front of him.

"Please, leave him to me."-said Arekanderu in a calm tone which surprised Ichigo.

"O-ok."-said Ichigo, but I have got your back.

"No need."-said Arekanderu to Ichigo and turned to Jidanbou while putting his right hand into his pocket. "My name is Arekanderu. Use all of your power in one strike."

"My name is Jidanbou and I assure you that I won't need that much energy."-said Jidanbou and took out an enormous axe.

"Let's start then. Take this."-said Jidanbou and swung his axe into the air preparing to strike.

"Your nervous system."-said Arekanderu.

"Huh? What's with my nervous system?"-asked Jidanbou keeping the axe in mid-air.

"It's even slower than your movements are."-said Arekanderu while everyone looked at him with a confused face.

"Look at your wielding left hand."-said Arekanderu and pointed towards it. Jidanbou looked along with everyone else. When he looked he froze. His axe was engulfed in black flames and the handle was the only thing which remained. The axe now resembled a torch instead of an axe.

"When did you…?"-started to ask Jidanbou, but stopped because his opponent was nowhere to be seen.

"Checkmate."-said Arekanderu from behind Jidanbou's head holding a fireball to Jidanbou's head. Jidanbou started to turn towards Arekanderu who was floating in the air.

"I wouldn't move if I were you."-said Arekanderu and Jidanbou froze. "If you even move a muscle I will blow your head off."-continued Arekanderu and licked his lips while having an evil smile on his face. "Just give up."-said Arekanderu while everyone was surprised.

"When did he move?"-asked Uryuu.

"His fighting style is unlike his earlier self."-said Orihime.

"I surrender."-said Jidanbou. "You are the first one to defeat me after…"

"Yeah, yeah. I get the point."-said Arekanderu. "Just open the damn gate so we can move on."

"But as the gatekeeper I shouldn't…"-started Jidanbou.

"Open the gate or say bye-bye to your head."-said Arekanderu pushing the fireball closer to Jidanbou's head so he could feel the heat.

"Ok, you win. I will open it."-said Jidanbou. "But don't kill me."

"I give my word. I hate violence anyway."-said Arekanderu and teleported away from Jidanbou.

"My parents' legacy is this hatred and I will avenge their deaths by killing the ones who killed them."-said Arekanderu and stepped to the side. Jidanbou didn't say a word and went to open the gate. He kneeled down so he could pull it up. Meanwhile the others went to Arekanderu and Ichigo.

"You moron!"-said Saionji and kicked Arekanderu's leg.

"Damn, you are very original when it comes to hitting me."-said Arekanderu.

"I am original at everything else too, not my fault if you didn't realize it," Saionji said, irritated by her brother's stupidness.

"Take that anyway you like."-said Arekanderu and disappeared.

"I will kill you the next time I see you!"-shouted Saionji into the air. Everyone looked at her with a stupefied face.

"Saionji what has gotten into your brother during the fight?"-asked Orihime.

"Does he have a split personality?"-asked Uryuu.

"No, he is just a stupid idiot."-replied Saionji.

"That doesn't answer the question."-noted Uryuu.

"I am just good at acting."-said Arekanderu while looking at the opening gates from behind everyone.

"No, you are just an idiot."-said Saionji.

"I agree with her."-said Ichigo.

"Look at the dead man talking."-said Arekanderu directing his words to Ichigo.

"Dead man?"-asked Ichigo.

"Yes, if I wouldn't have jumped in then you would have been crushed by the gate."-said Arekanderu, but before Ichigo replied Jidanbou opened the gate. Ichigo ran towards the gate, but Jidanbou's left shoulder started to bleed heavily which froze him for some seconds.

"A gatekeeper shouldn't open the gate he is keeping closed."-said a voice coming from inside the wall.

"Darn it! I didn't see how he was cut. This new opponent is stronger than what any of us could handle alone in our current state."-thought Arekanderu with a scared look in his eyes. Jidanbou fell to his knees again under the weight of the gate.

"You are Ichimaru Gin. Captain of the third squad."-said Jidanbou and the mysterious figurine stepped in front of the gate. His eyes were closed, had a smile on his face, gray hair and wore a white robe over the black shinigami kimono.

"A gatekeeper who lost is as good as dead."-said Gin and prepared for an attack, but Ichigo stepped between them.

"I am Kurosaki Ichigo and I don't like the way you treat people."-said Ichigo and took out Zangetsu and took on his battle stance.

"Oh, one of the ryoka."-said Gin and started to move back into the midst of Seireitei. He stopped meters away from Ichigo. He took out his dagger-like Zanpaktou and positioned it so it faced Ichigo head-on.

"You won't kill me unless you throw that dagger at me."-said Ichigo with confidence.

"This isn't a dagger."-said Gin. "This is my Zanpaktou. Shoot to kill, Shinsou!" and the sword started to extend towards Ichigo's direction with amazing speed. Ichigo reacted quickly. He turned Zangetsu to its side so Ichimaru only hit the blade. But the power in the strike was too great and pushed Ichigo back who flew into Jidanbou. The attack pushed the two out of Seireitei, back into Rukongai. The gate started to fall down.

"Oh, no! The gate!"-said Yuroichi.

"Bye-bye"-said Gin and the gate crashed down. Ichigo stood up and looked at Jidanbou.

"Are you all right, Ichigo?"-asked Orihime while running towards him with Ishida. The others went to him as well. Only Arekanderu stood in the same place completely frozen. He looked around and realized that no one is around so he followed the others with hands in his pocket. He arrived next to them and looked at Jidanbou.

"This wound is pretty bad."-said Ichigo.

"No problem, I will heal it."-said Orihime.

"Can you do it?"-asked Ichigo.

"Shun'ou, Ayame! Sontenkisshun, I reject!"-said Orihime and Jidanbou's shoulder started to heal. Ichigo got his answer and turned around. He could see Arekanderu looking at Jidanbou with a sad face. He turned to Saionji.

"What's his problem?"-asked Ichigo.

"Who do you think I am? I can't read his mind, and I wouldn't want to."-said Saionji and turned away.

"I'm sorry Jidanbou. If I wouldn't have ordered you to open the gate then you wouldn't have gotten hurt."-thought Arekanderu and closed his eyes. Ichigo was looking at him, but turned away to see the people gathering around them. An old man stepped in front.

"Thank you for saving Jidanbou. He was the only one who was nice to us. How can we repay you?"-said the old man.

"Just who are you?"-asked Yuroichi.

"I am the leader of this village."-said the old man. Orihime finished healing Jidanbou in the mean time.

"Finished, now he only needs to rest a bit."-said Orihime while the villagers looked at her with a surprised face. Arekanderu was still looking depressed.

"Let's talk about this at another place."-said Yuroichi.

"How about my house?"-asked the old man.

"That will be perfect."-said Yuroichi. "Please show us the way."

"Follow me then."-said the old man, but stopped after seeing Saionji. "Is that you Saionji?"

"Oh, hello."-said Saionji. The old man went closer to her.

"How are you doing, my dear?"-asked the old man.

"Fine, thanks. We want to go into Seireitei to rescue someone."-said Saionji.

"Oh, I see. Is your brother going too?"-asked the man.

"Yes, he is standing there."-said Saionji and pointed at Arekanderu. "He is the one wearing the lame dragon heads over his wrist."-continued Saionji more loudly so Arekanderu can hear her, but there was no reaction from him.

"He was the one who fought with Jidanbou, wasn't he? If he could beat Jidanbou so fast then he is really strong."-said the old man.

"It wasn't a big feat. I could have done it much better."-said Saionj just as-a-matter-of-factly-

"It seems like he is in deep thought so I will not disturb him."-said the old man and started moving towards his house.

"Do you know each other?"-asked Yuroichi from the old man. The old man stopped.

"Yes, she spent some time at my house before she reunited with her brother. To be honest this is the first time I have seen her brother."-said the old man. "Shall we get going?"

"Yes."-said Yuroichi and the group started to move, but Arekanderu didn't move a muscle. Saionji looked behind and has seen him standing still. She immediately teleported to him.

"We are going moron. Come!"-said Saionji, but Arekanderu didn't react. "Can't you hear me?"-she continued, but there was still no reaction. She got angry and attempted to punch Arekanderu. Arekanderu caught her hand.

"Leave me alone for a bit."-said Arekanderu and teleported away. Saionji was surprised because she has never seen her brother so down before. She stood there for a short time and moved after the group.

While walking Chad went away from the group with the boy who was a cockatiel when they first met. Saionji rejoined the group and went into the old man's house. They sat down in the house to talk.

"Can we stay here for the night?"-asked Yuroichi because it was already sunset outside.

"That's the least I can do for the saviors of Jidanbou."-said the old man.

"Yuroichi, I want to ask you something."-said Ishida.

"What is it?"-asked Yuroichi.

"How will we get inside Seireitei now?"-asked Ishida.

"Don't worry."-said Yuroichi and turned to the old man. "Do you know where the Shiba clan lives now?"

"You don't mean that you want to try that method?"-asked the old man.

"Yes, I do."-said Yuroichi.

Meanwhile, Arekanderu teleported on top of the house's roof.

"Damn, I am not strong enough."-he thought and lay on his back with closed eyes. He opened them again, but the Sun already set. He rubbed his eyes.

"Darn it! I must have fallen asleep."-thought Arekanderu.

"You think that you can win just by having a bigger sword than I do?"-asked a voice from below. Arekanderu sat up and looked down. He could see Ichigo fighting with an unknown guy. The unknown person drew a circle with his leg on the ground and pushed Ichigo's sword into it. After the sword sunk he punched Ichigo who flew away.

"That's just like quicksand."-said Ishida.

"Damn you for using such weird tricks."-said Ichigo while standing up. He ran to his opponent and delivered a solid punch.

"You're tough."-said Ichigo. They went at each other and punch followed punch. Suddenly a clock rang in the background.

"Oh, oh. Boss it's 9 o'clock already."-shouted another guy on top of a boar.

"9 already?"-asked Ichigo's opponent before Ichigo hit him in the nose.

"I will avenge that, but now I have to go. Come Bonnie-chan!"-said the foe.

"Bonnie chan?"-asked Ichigo and a large boar jumped above him.

"Avenge? That's right! This Jidanbou incident gave me another thing to avenge! My motifs are stronger now along with my power to fight!"-thought Arekanderu and stood up with a smile on his face. "Now I am sure I can get back my full power! And I have a new opponent too whom I will beat!

"I will win!"-said Arekanderu. "Hahahahahahahahahahahahhaahahaahahahahahahaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaa!!"-he gave out a loud diabolic laugh with his head twitched back and his arms on each side, stretched out. His energy started to build up and the black flames surrounded him. Ichigo's opponent jumped on top of his boar, but looked up when he heard the laugh along with everyone else.

"This energy…"-said Chad. Arekanderu stopped laughing and leaned forward while his arms faced the ground and his head looking at the ground. His energy was still surrounding him in the form of the flames. He teleported to the ground where everyone could see him. Saionji came out of the house. She came out and could see her brother madly smiling.

"Did he go nuts?"-asked Ichigo and looked at Saionji who was surprised and a bit scared at the same time. Arekanderu's energy build-up stopped and the smile disappeared.

"I can feel that my energy is increasing with every second!"-thought Arekanderu. "Soon, I will be able to use my full power again. And when that time comes I will kill the one who is responsible for my family's death."

"This kid is a real surprise. His energy is greater again. If he keeps this up he will be able to unlock his true power within days."-thought Yuroichi.

"We will finish this tomorrow shinigami!"-said Ganju and went away with his gang.

"You can't leave!"-shouted Ichigo, but Ganju was long gone.

"Who was that oaf?-asked Arekanderu.

"His name is Ganju."-said Yuroichi. "We should get some sleep, tomorrow we are leaving early."-she continued and went inside. Everyone followed her except Arekanderu who stayed outside for half an hour staring at the stars then went inside.

To be continued…


End file.
